Family: Friends were planning camping trip before woman was fatally shot

Carly Ellis
Carly Ellis
photo A man identified as Aaron Randal, 22, who accidentally discharged a weapon and killed a 19-year-old woman at 1206 Lewis St., holds his head in his hands as Chattanooga police investigate the shooting scene on Monday.

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A GoFundMe has been set up to help the Ellis family

The 19-year-old woman who was unintentionally shot and killed Tuesday was hanging out with friends before a planned camping trip, her uncle said today.

Carly Ellis was killed when Aaron Randal, 22, unintentionally discharged a weapon in a home on Lewis Street and shot Ellis through a wall around 1 p.m. Tuesday. She was hit in the neck and mortally wounded.

Randal, a cheerleader and student at UTC, has not yet been charged in Ellis' death.

Ellis, a graduate of Ooltewah High School, attended UTC for a year and was last enrolled in spring 2015, according to the school. She loved cheerleading but didn't cheer at UTC, said her uncle, David Allen, and she was friends with Randal.

She was taking a year off from school and working two jobs, he said. Ellis was always positive, he said, outgoing and polite.

"She was just a beautiful girl," Allen said.

Read tomorrow's Times Free Press for complete details on this story.

Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-7578-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas. Follow @ShellyBradbury.

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